WHEN is a building site not a building site? When it’s also the venue for the biggest race of the North-East’s National Hunt season.

Newcastle Racecourse is currently undergoing an £11m redevelopment that will see the installation of a new all-weather Flat track that should be operational by next May.

Floodlighting will be erected on the straight mile of the all-weather track, a new tiered restaurant will be constructed and the previous saddling boxes and pre-parade ring are being extensively refurbished.

The work remains ongoing, with 18,000 tonnes of all-weather surface ready to be laid in January, but when the final plans were agreed earlier this year, there was always a strong determination to ensure Saturday’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle would remain at Gosforth Park.

A meeting with British Horseracing Authority officials on Monday resulted in this weekend’s meeting receiving a formal green light, and while some of the surroundings remain a work in progress, executive director David Williamson is delighted to be throwing open the gates for the flagship event of Newcastle’s winter programme.

“This was always a massive part of our plans,” said Williamson. “The weather has pushed things back a little bit, but the inspectors were very happy with where we’re at and things have moved on so we’re right back on schedule.

“People won’t come here on Saturday and see an all-weather track fully laid and ready to go, but they will get an idea of what we’re moving towards and in terms of the National Hunt course, everything’s in peak condition.

“It’s nice to see it all coming together. There are parts of the course that resemble a building site, but credit to Stobarts, they’ve taken on a major engineering project and they’re delivering everything we could have wanted.”

Newcastle’s first all-weather Flat meeting is scheduled for May 17, but this weekend’s staging of the Fighting Fifth should provide a powerful rebuttal to those who were questioning whether National Hunt racing would survive at the venue.

This weekend’s meeting is the first of four planned jumps cards before the end of the year, with Williamson adamant that the National Hunt programme will not be sacrificed in pursuit of additional all-weather fixtures.

“Some people were saying this would be jumps racing finished at Newcastle, but nothing could be further from the case,” said Williamson. “If anything, the next few years will see it go from strength to strength.

“It’s been a logistical challenge to get everything ready so we could race this weekend, but it was one we were always confident of winning. The Fighting Fifth is a huge part of our calendar, and this weekend’s renewal looks like being one of the most competitive races for a number of years.

“Then next year, we’ll be increasing our investment into the jumps programme, and hopefully people will see the positive effect that should have.”

Eleven horses remain in Saturday’s race after Monday’s initial declaration stage, with the quality of the field having been enhanced significantly by the decision to supplement Wicklow Brave and Identity Thief.

Wicklow Brave could be one of two runners for Irish champion trainer Willie Mullins, and the winner of last year’s Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival heads to Gosforth Park on the back of a superb Flat campaign that culminated in a second-place finish in the Betfred Ebor at York.

Wicklow Brave warmed up for this weekend’s assignment by finishing third behind Nichols Canyon and Faugheen in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown, and Mullins’ willingness to shell out a supplementary fee suggests he sees the six-year-old as a potential Champion Hurdler.

His other entry, Arctic Fire, finished third behind Irving in last year’s Fighting Fifth, but improved markedly throughout the rest of the campaign and finished a hugely-creditable second behind Faugheen in the Champion Hurdle.

Identity Thief, who was supplemented by Henry de Bromhead, is regarded as a potential dark horse for this year’s Cheltenham feature after justifying favouritism in the Grade Two WKD Hurdle at Down Royal last month.

Irving is a 2-1 ante-post favourite for Saturday’s race, and a repeat of last weekend’s performance in the Betfair Price Rush Hurdle at Haydock should secure Paul Nicholls’ hurdler back-to-back Fighting Fifth titles.

Irving battled gamely to repel the Nicky Henderson-trained Top Notch, who could re-oppose again this weekend, but there has to be a fear that his exertions took a lot out of him. Having also won the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton, this would be Irving’s third high-profile assignment in the space of a month.

The Northern Echo:

WINNERS' ENCLOSURE: Irving triumphed in last year's Fighting Fifth Hurdle

“The ground wasn’t as bad as they said it was going to be at Haydock,” said Nicholls. “I think it was only really good-to-soft on the hurdles track, so he didn’t have too hard a time.

“He appears to be fine and he’s eaten up. Everything being right with him, he’ll probably run. I’m not saving him for anything else just now, so we’ll give it a go.”

Henderson has three entries, with Triumph Hurdle third Hargam and Scottish Champion Hurdle runner-up Sign Of A Victory joining Top Notch.

John Ferguson has Purple Bay and Commissioned as possible runners, but perhaps the most interesting runner at odds of around 7-1 will be Beltor.

Formerly trained on the Flat by County Durham’s Michael Dods, Beltor was transformed into a hugely-promising juvenile hurdler by Robert Stephens last season, finishing sixth in the Triumph Hurdle.